Happy News!

I've been putting off letting this news out but I think it's about time to make my big announcement. We are expecting baby number four!! We are so excited and have been praying for this baby for a long time. The kids are especially anxious to have one more. Caleb has started saying specifically that this one needs to be a boy. . . Sorry, bud, the decision has already been made--but we'll see:). I'm not due until May so we've got some waiting time. It will be perfect timing with Ryan getting finished in April with BYU and not starting his internship until June. It'll give us some time. It's kind of amazing how the Lord has the perfect time table, we just have to learn to let Him be in charge.
Other than that we are all doing well and keeping busy. We are heading to Canada for Thanksgiving and hope the car ride doesn't take too long. . . I'm sure it will. But the people at the other end are worth it:) We hope you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Just a little update

I think I forgot about updating my own blog because I've been so busy reading everyone else's. We've had a fun fall so far. We celebrated Elsie's fourth birthday. One day in Idaho with my family and one day in Utah with Ryan's family. She got pretty well celebrated. But the best part of it all was on the morning of her birthday when I passed her two vitamins--it was a rite of passage for her to join the other two kids.
We've also been busy with sickness around here. We all got the 24 hour flu in Idaho that made for a party. When we got back Soph was sick for a week with an absess on her tonsil. Now the boy is sick with the H1N1 virus. . .I hope it's not the beginning of the cycle.
Between the illnesses I got to go to lunch with a wonderful friend. She was my mentor teacher for the one year that I taught public school. Couldn't have made it through without her. This is Elsie's first attempt at people photography. She usually just gets random shots so I was really proud of her.
Then the kids decided to represent the dead for Halloween. Nothing sweet here. Good thing they collected a whole bunch of sweet in their bags!
And finally, fall means piano recitals! Caleb got to play a duet with his Nana while Soph played in a trio with some friends. It's always nice to have those come and go. Thanks to their Nana for being such a great piano teacher!

Happy Fall to everyone and we hope it's as beautiful where you are as it is here.

School Days

Here we are being schooled in what it would've been like to be a pioneer. It was hot but we had some amazing sun bonnets that helped to keep the sun off. We had a big family get together to celebrate fall, the start of school, and seeing Grandpa and Gram move to Arizona for the winter.

Now here's my newest student. This little boy loves kindergarten! He has had so much fun to start off but he came home yesterday and took an hour and 1/2 nap. He's not quite ready to leave those behind. The first day of school he came home to tell me that he'd met a cute girl in class. I asked what her name was but he never asked. So the next day he decided to make her a craft in class. They made cut outs of hands in the sign for "I Love You"--he made one for me then made one for the new little girl in his class. I asked if he found out her name but he's still a little too shy for that. There are plenty of years for that.
Here's my big third grader. She hit the start of school off with a bang. About one week after school started I got a call from her teacher. I was informed that this student was far too excited about talking to her neighbor and needed to be reminded what the purpose of school is. I asked the teacher, "What, it's not playing with all of your friends?" I'm afraid the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree.
Here's a shot of my oldest student! He's officially started his second to the last semester in school. He'll be graduating just about the time that the other two are starting their last month of school. And yes, I am counting!

9 YEARS!!!

Well, nine years ago today I married this guy. We've been on quite an adventure ever since and I want to record just a few of those side trips. . .
We met at a mutual friends recital. I don't remember him but I do remember thinking I could never marry one of those loud music majors. He vaguely remembers me but the interest stopped there. A few weeks later we went on a double date. Him with another girl and me with his friend. I remember thinking what a cute couple those two would make. A few weeks later we were on yet another double date with different partners. Again no thoughts of us dating but I think someone was trying to send a message.
We had a year of seeing each other off and on as friends around campus and being at the same place at the same time. In December he asked for my email, sent me an email, then started dating someone else. I was having way too much fun to notice. Finally in April right before I graduated from BYU he asked me on a date. I wanted to date him but wasn't sure it was the right thing to do. I eventually gave in to his sparkling personality and wit but not without a fight. I made sure we dated for two months before I said "yes" to his proposal. Then made him wait a whole two months before I married him--I know I really played hard to get:).
Well, three states and almost four college degrees later we are still happy to be married to each other. It's pretty amazing to me how things work out despite ourselves. I love you, Ryan, and am happy to be stuck with a loud music, chaplain major after all:).

Summertime

I've had a great summer of family! I've been staying in Driggs while Ryan has finished up two terms over the summer. I've gone to weddings, funerals, birthday parties, new babies, and family reunions and it's been amazing. I just have to write down my feelings about my family and where I was able to grow up. It's pretty picturesque, even though there were times of feeling like it was too small or nobody liked me--(that whole nobody-likes-me-teenage-mentality). When, actually, I was related to most of the valley and they loved me because of my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I still consider it home and grow more fond of it through the years. If the Air Force ever builds a base there, that's where we'll be.
This is a picture of my Grandpa Rammell. He always enjoys sharing his time and testimony with his grandkids. You can see the link on my blog to read a part of his thoughts that have always brought me strength and faith.

This picture is at my cousins wedding. Sitting in the temple with my dad, his siblings, their children, and Aunt Connie was very special. I felt so loved by not only those living but those who have passed on.

Here was a special two-year olds big day. I can't believe how fast these babies grow and soon turn into the bosses of it all.
We also got to celebrate Miss Lily turning 7! You can see the surprise on her face, too. Caleb turned into Barbie as a special birthday present for his cousin:)
My sister, Steph, had her sweet little Sylvia come to their home. It was my first time being with a sister after having a new baby where I actually got to stick around for a few days. What a huge sacrifice but also blessing a new baby is for a family. Number 6 at their home. Steph, you are amazing and it was so great to be with you this summer.
Cool Cousins just enjoying being together.
And going out with a bang! We got to go to The Gateway in Salt Lake with a good friend before coming home. If you gotta go, I say go out with a bang! Not sure if Soph liked it or not, but I had fun.:)

JUNE/CRAZINESS

June 6th
So our Soph girl got baptized! I can't believe that I have an eight-year old and one that just acts so cool about it. She is such a good kid and is a great example for her brother and sister. It was such a special morning for us to be together with family and hear her sweet testimony of the Savior. She sang the musical number with Ryan. Half way through she forgot the words but she just hummed along until she remembered. . .No big deal. She just goes with it.
June 13th
Ryan sister, Abi, got married to Brian Kay. They are so happy together and it was such a fun celebration. Brian served in the same mission as me so I got to visit with our mission president and pretend like he was there to see me. It was a lovely day and got all the girls to thinking. Soph asked if she could have a cake like their wedding cake for her birthday and Elsie asked if she could throw some flowers out to her friends too.
June 16th. . .
I got to take the kids to Idaho and have a little rendevous with my sisters. I come from a family of five girls and two amazing parents that didn't kill us during those teenage years. Now between us there are 14 (almost 16)granddaughters and only 4 (almost 5) grandsons. There was a lot of estrogen and bosses who wanted to be in charge but we had such a wonderful time all together.
Elsie and Caroline playing dress up.
Soph and Lauren taking a break from their swimming lesson with their cousins.
Here is one of the bosses caught in the act. That finger is lethal!
And a big shout out to three of the four boys. We are missing Oliver in this picture because he didn't feel good. But these boys just roll with it. Give them a trampoline or a matchbox car and life is good.

End of School!

I love this time of year and we've been having a great time. I can't believe that another summer is upon us. Time keeps on marchin'. We started gearing up for summer by signing C up for t-ball. He's got some of his buddies on the team and I'm afraid more laughing goes on then playing.
But he has managed to hit the ball a few times:)
Then for the S girl's birthday she requested a hike up to the "Y". It's a pretty steep but short hike so we tackled it. It was pretty cute to see the kids help each other when the going got tough.

Going down was harder than going up. My poor knees are just not the same!
Here's a kid's eighth birthday cake. Her aunt is getting married and has been describing her cake to S. She originally asked for tiers and a heart pretzel on top. Instead she got red rope and gummy raspberry's! I tried:).
And to top it all off, the Murray's came to see us on the day of celebration. They were here for a wedding but we like to think it was really just to visit with us. They had quite a time getting down here but I'll leave that for Heidi's blog. . .Come on H, I know you can do it!

Germany

So it's four in the morning here but I can not sleep anymore because I'm still on Germany time--I know, poor me:). But I just wanted to post a few of the pictures of the wonderful things that we saw. We visited parts of Ryan's mission, saw homes where my mother-in-law lived while over in Germany, went to an amazing Berlin Airlift 60 year celebration, saw family and friends, and ate lots and lots of wonderful food. It was picturesque and perfect. Enough of this talking, here are some shots. . . This first one is us going up in a cable car with church bells ringing in the background and the Rhein River flowing through this beautiful valley and vineyard

Here are two crazy airmen, my cousin Russell and friend Nathan who are stationed over in Germany. As you can see they still keep their cool despite the amazing location. Russell let us borrow his European GPS that saved our lives--many times. Leading us not only to all the local sites, but rest stops (that you have to pay to use), gas stations, and most importantly, resturants.


In Heidelburg, we got to meet up with the family of one of the guys Ryan taught on his mission. He later served a mission and married this wonderful woman. He's the Branch President of a branch we visited while there and where I was completely humbled by not understanding one word of the German spoken there. . .
This was the main reason behind our visit to Germany. We went to Berlin to watch the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. This is Ryan's Grandpa who never runs out of energy and represents the pilots who flew for almost a year to keep West Berlin free from Communist Rule.
Here are some sights in Potsdam--what used to be East Germany. We talked to a West Berliner at the celebration and she said the first thing she did when the wall came down was go here to see these sights she'd heard about all her life but could never see. They were beautiful.
















We left Berlin and went north to Bremen, a nice fishing town. We stayed with a family who lived here near Ryan's parents for a few years. It was great visiting and having our own tour guide. We went into three cathedrals that day and at every one there was an organ playing. It was amazing!
And, finally the Gothic Cathedral in Cologne. We walked up 580 of this bad boy's steps to get to the tower. It was amazing to see the height of the ceiling in here after learning about it in Humanities 101. There was so much history and greatness.
Two last shots include the ride that got us around. Ryan had a great time on the Autobahn, zipping around into tight little parking spots, and trying to follow the GPS into unknown territory. He was in heaven hitting speeds of 100+. I tried to sleep as much as possible during these moments.
Finally, the babysitters who made all of this possible. Thanks so much Mom and Dad for watching the kids and putting up with us. The kids were in HEAVEN and don't feel guilty at all saying that they got SPOILED!

Update

We took the kids down to Zion National Park for Spring Break. We were hoping it would be warm enough to camp but we were so thankful for our warm hotel room. It was cold but breathtaking. The kids had a great time and were such great hikers.
I think that is a favorite place to visit! After Zion I got to go up and visit with three of my sisters in Seattle. It was so great to just stay in our pajamas, eat chocolate covered strawberries and watch chick flicks all day every day. Shout out to Phil, Thanks for putting up with us!
This last Thursday we went to Temple Square for one of Ryan's cousin's wedding. We are surrounded by so many wonderful flowers! It was such a lovely morning and a beautiful wedding.
Here's a shot of one of our latest pets. We planted the garden with Ryan's mom last night and found two of the most disgusting snails. Nana wanted us to throw them as far away as possible but the kids couldn't stand it. So we filled a bucket full of weeds and grass and have been enjoying playing with them. I was hoping they would've crawled away in the night but I forgot their track record:) The kids love them!

Soaking it up!

We had a few sunny days last week so I took the younger kids to the BYU duck pond. It was such a beautiful day. You can tell that this turtle knows how to enjoy the sunshine! I love the way that his back legs are turned up and he's basking in it. I let the kids have the camera for a few minutes and these are some of the shots. They were happy to be outside too. We woke up this morning though to a chilly one. We even got about an inch of snow but it's all melted now. Hurry up spring, please come our way.

If you don't this is what happens to our house every day. You see, this room was clean just that morning. I'm not sure why I bother except I hate going into their room in the middle of the night to help a child and stepping on one of those lovely toys. We all need a little outside time.

Trip to L.A.

However did my sister find this backyard in California?! I got to make a mad dash down to L.A. to visit my sister. It was such a fun, crazy whirlwind of a trip--but so worth it to see one of my sisters! They found this great house to rent and after living in a great, but small apartment complex she gets to open the back door and let her little girls explore this wonderful patch of lawn.
I had such a nice time visiting, cleaning, packing, and unpacking but the highlight was a wonderful dinner at Woodhouse Grill--to die for. Thanks guys for keeping me full and for such good company.
I have to include though, the unfortunate events on Sunday evening when I was flying home--I know, that was the beginning of the end, booking my flight on the Sabbath! I went in the afternoon putting me back at my home by nine o'clock. I had a small plane change in San Fran that was to last 45 min. That was not to be. If I would've known then what I know now--I would've called in the troops from Travis AFB.
At first, they anticipated a "slight delay" because of routine maintenance. Because of that delay they decided to send the crew on another flight to Burbank--WHAT!?! So the delay went from 6:55, to 7:35, to 8:15, to 9:05, to 10:15. It was very unfortunate! I arrived in Salt Lake feeling very put out but not completely down. I went to get my luggage for my trusty coat that I didn't need in LA to find that they had lost my luggage. No coat. Luckily I had parked in Long Term parking so my husband wouldn't be dragged out of his bed at 1:30 in the morning to come and get me. But it was an extremely cold 20 minute wait for the bus, on which I was the only passenger, to come and deliver me to my car. I arrived very cold, hungry, angry, and exhausted in my bed by 3:15 a.m. Monday morning arrived and I was not quite ready for it.
This experience was a good reminder that sometimes things happen and I'm not yet to level of my wonderful mother who would've just been happy for a few extra hours to read her book.

Bean There?. . . Get it;)

We've had a really fun weekend with our cousins visiting from Canada! I think they brought the Great North's weather with them because we've been enjoying a winter wonderland since they got here. Yesterday for President's Day we went to beautiful Sundance to try our skills. I must admit that I was by far the least skilled in that skill but had a wonderful day anyway. We took the four oldest kids and let them have a go on the slope. It was a lot of work getting them up the rope tow but once there they were pros. They stayed for about one hour then went home with Grandpa while the parents stayed up to ski. It was so fun but I'm so sore today. I'm not as young as I used to be--pretty profound, huh!?
Here are the kiddos enjoying some light refreshments after working so hard. Nothing like a good 'ole PB and J to restore your energy.
Today we tried to do something fun just to keep up so we went over to the Monte L. Bean Museum for the reptile show. Every time I go there I think of my very brave sister, Jamie, who used to work there and do the shows. She was the one holding the rats that they fed to these bad boys--shout out to you, Roo. The kids were pretty impressed by this seven foot boa constrictor, named Rocky. We also saw a pretty cute box turtle, snake eggs, and stuffed turtles. That was a little sad for the kids and they kept asking why they were dead and where their spirits were. It was a great doctrinal discussion. So, we are ready for some more fun stuff and will let you know how we top these.